Hold Me
by DreamAlways
Summary: When you turn your back on your life and the people you love, how long does it take to catch you up again? AU NH.


Chapter One

**Hold Me**

Chapter One – Coming Undone Again

**Summary:** When you turn your back on your life and the people you love, how long does it take to catch you up again? AU NH.

**Disclaimer:** Rated M for language, content of a sexual nature and character death. Also, I love to use flashbacks, they'll be in italics.

**A/N: **Hi guys! Ah, its been SO LONG! I'm sorry! Life has a habit of being horribly busy, but I'm here with this idea that's been buzzing around my head for AGES! I hope you enjoy this - Please don't be put off by a character death… my reasons for it should become clear – don't be put off!

I hope you guys will let me know what you think!

- - -

As the door of the black stretch limousine opened, its passenger turned out and placed her stiletto heel to the floor. Deliberately rubbing it into the gravel to secure its place, she moved her left foot to join her right, and slowly moved out of the car, grasping at the door for support. Securing her glasses in place, and tentatively placing one foot in front of the other, she walked slowly toward her destination.

"Miss?" the driver called out, as she turned quickly, startled that he had broken her silence.

"Will you be requiring me to wait?"

The woman, dark blonde, unmistakably naturally, looked at the driver, and then to her destination just a few metres away. Looking again, from one to the other, she took a deep breath before finally, she spoke.

"I could be a while" she replied, her voice quiet and a little shaken.

The driver bowed his hat a little and smiled as he pulled out his paper, motioning to her that a wait would be no trouble at all. Gratefully she returned his smile, a hint of her true soul emerging before turning, to resume her walk, the wind picking up a little around her.

Dressed in an unmistakably designer black dress, no longer than her knees, no higher than mid-thigh, the young woman was the epitome of style and grace. Despite the warm late day she wore a black throw over her shoulders, matched along with dark oversized sun glasses. A mass of blonde natural curls fell far down her back, stopping for a brief moment; she reached for them, sweeping them to one side, as the wind stole through them.

As the gravel beneath her feet turned to grass, the woman glanced to see if anyone stood around her, before slipping off her heels and continuing barefoot, allowing her feet to trace the grass as she arrived at her destination, her heels swinging in her hand.

Two men were there too, folding away the chairs that had been set out at a site nearby, fresh flowers gathered all around. They knew who she was, everyone knew who she was. They looked at her, unsurprised to see her there, it wasn't the first time. Looking to each other, they mumbled incoherently, the older of the two stepping forward to speak up.

"Would you like a minute?" he whispered softly, his tone kind and caring, his hands fidgeting. Only a single tear trickled down her face as she nodded her head, one of her small hands reaching under her glasses to wipe it away. She nodded again as the men nodded their respects, gently stepped away and disappearing down the hill a little out of sight. Coughing quietly to clear her throat, she took the glasses from her face, exposing her bloodshot, teary eyes; her face had not an ounce of makeup on it. Looking around she took in the sight of an older woman at a nearby stone, her face was broken, as she crouched down, laying flowers at a graveside.

"_Wait up!" a __brunette girl screamed at the top of her lungs._

"_Shhh!" another girl, around the same height but blonde in colouring, replied._

"_What?" the brunette questioned, arriving to stand beside the other girl._

"_Isn't it beautiful?" the blonde questioned as she swept her curly hair to one side, as she looked out from their place on the hill, over the beach to the sea._

"_It's the beach" the brunette replied, placing her young hands on her hips. "What's so beautiful about it?"_

"_It's just magical"_

"_Dreamer!" the brunette laughed, jabbing her friend's arm as she teased her._

"_Am not!"_

"_Are so!"_

_The blonde girl looked up from the sea to the sky, as it slowly began to darken above them, a cool breeze washing over her face. "Perfect" she whispered, as she closed her eyes, a tiny drop of rain falling to her forehead._

_The brunette had already begun to run toward shelter, finding solace in a nearby doorway. _

"_Haley!" the brunette screamed to her friend, as the rain began to fall harder and faster, faint sounds of thunder in the distance. "Get here! Before you drown!"  
_

_Haley closed her eyes quickly, allowing a few more spots of rain to fall on her face, before running to take shelter with her friend. _

"_You're mad" the young brunette laughed as a soaked Haley crouched down to sit beside her under the confines of the doorway. _

_Haley laughed a little. "How am I mad?" she questioned._

"_Finding the sea beautiful; the rain too, I just don't see it. All I see is…" she stopped._

_Haley laughed again. "Come on then Brooke" she paused. "What do you see? Boys?"_

_Both girls looked to each other and laughed, before they regained their silence._

"_Uncertainty" Brooke finally spoke aloud._

_Haley James and Brooke Davis had known each other forever. Growing up as next door neighbours, they'd spent their lives together, living and learning in every way possible. Now at the age of sixteen, their lives were ahead of them, and they had every intention of facing them together._

"_Can you show me?" Brooke asked_

"_Show you what?" Haley replied softly, tucking her hair behind her ear._

_The girls sat in silence in the brief moments that passed, before Brooke spoke up._

_She smiled and closed her eyes as she whispered softly._

"_The magic in the world"_

An older Haley James sat down at the gravestone, her designer dress against the dark soil, her feet gathered underneath her as she placed a single lily in front of it. Although she was now 22, she was, to look at, unmistakably the same girl. Her tousled curls lay perfectly at one side of her face, as they always had, her delicate skin, although older, remained smooth and faultless. Looking down at her hands, a few tears fell onto her skirt, the material soaking them up almost immediately, before she finally tore them up to the words in front of her.

**Brooke Penelope Davis**

'**Believe, Wish, Dream'**

**1985**** – 2004**

Haley leant forward as she grazed her finger over the indentations in the stone, slowly, deliberately marking them, re-writing the words with her finger, her tears falling more freely. Softly she whispered aloud.

"I miss you"

Closing her eyes, a sea of memories rushed over her body and she shivered. Tears etched their way down her skin, as she allowed her self to lie in the grass, her head against the ground, her hands clutching at the grass, lying as close to her friend as possible.

"Brooke" she whispered, choking through her tears. "Happy Birthday…"

Haley lay still on the ground for what seemed like an eternity. The bright daylight darkened as she lay, the stillness of a nearly summer evening descending over her.

"Miss?" a small voice came from behind her. "Excuse me, Miss James?"

Haley slowly rose from the ground, her thick curls now tousled, tear stains marring her face. Turning, she found her driver behind her.

"Miss James, its getting cold. Let me take you to your hotel?"

Haley could only nod in agreement as he helped her to her feet, continuing to hold on to her tightly, supporting her, until they reached the car. Whispering an almost inaudible "Thank you" in gratitude, Haley slipped into the backseat and leant against the window, watching as the world went by.

Haley James, at the tender age of twenty-two was known worldwide. Leaving home at the age of nineteen, she'd thrown everything she had into becoming one of the word's most loved musicians. Having celebrated success as a number one artist, she had also secured her position as well known party girl and diva, striving to get what she wanted at every turn. Having graced the cover of every glossy and gossip magazine in the country; if not the world, everyone thought they knew Haley James.

But as she sat with her head against the cold glass of the limo window, Haley herself got a glimpse of who she really was. As they drove through the sleepy North Carolina town she had been brought up in, a shiver through her entire body.

"John?" she spoke quietly.

"Yes, Miss James?" he replied.

"Could you take me…" her voice tailed off.

John caught her eye in his mirror and she nodded. Indicating from the main street he turned to drive down a quiet country lane passing until he reached a group of no more than five or six houses. Slowing the car down, he stopped between two. Haley slid to the other side of the car to get a better look. They looked just the same she thought, the two houses. Lights blared from both as she saw the reflections of figures through the windows; a tall beautiful woman could be seen clearly.

"Mom" Haley whispered, a tear escaping her eye. Haley lifted her hand to the window, tracing out her mom's figure, until something in her snapped.

"Drive" she suddenly spat, turning from the window, as her driver closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Miss James" he began

"Drive" she repeated, sitting back in her seat, blocking out a world she had once known.

"Haley" John started again, trying to stop the walls she put up from reforming.

"John" she began. "You have children to feed" she snapped. "I pay you to drive. Not for your opinions."

John settled back into his seat and started the engine, sighing a little at the sadness he saw in the situation, and in her eyes.

"The nearest bar" she spoke, her tone deliberately stating her choice of venue was not up for discussion.

John's eyes saddened as he watched her in the rear view mirror.

Lifting her phone from her bag, she dialled the number. The same one she'd dialled a million times, its digits etched in her mind. It rang once, twice, three times until it was answered, the familiar voice's rough tone causing her eyes to fall closed.

"Hello?"

She didn't speak, she never did. He didn't say another word either. A moment or two passed before Haley ended the call, throwing her phone back into her bag. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and turned to face out the window again.

"I was wrong Brooke" Tears began to fall down Haley's cheeks. "There's no magic in this world."

"Miss?" John interrupted her thoughts. "We're here."


End file.
